November Was Worst Month of U.S. Travel Since May

The U.S. travel industry has entered a dark winter. According to Skift Research’s latest U.S. Travel Tracker survey, only 32 percent of Americans traveled in November, despite the Thanksgiving holiday, a decrease from 38 percent in October. This marks the lowest travel incidence rate since May.

With family holiday celebrations, it’s no surprise that the share of staying with families goes up. In November, 28 percent of all personal travel were spent in private residency, increasing from 25 percent in October. This increase is purely at the loss of hotel stays, which went from 56 percent in October to 52 percent in November. Data from STR painted an even more dire picture for the U.S. hospitality industry. According to STR, the U.S. hotel occupancy for the week of November 22-28 fell to 36.2 percent, the lowest level since late May.

Skift Research introduced a monthly U.S. travel tracking survey in January 2020 to examine the travel penetration rates and detailed travel behavior of the U.S. population. In addition to the factual travel occurrences, we also asked respondents their perceptions on the macro-level economic condition as well their personal financial and travel outlook. As we move through different phases of Covid-19, our monthly survey captures the fluctuations of consumer travel behavior and intent in real time.

In our newly released U.S. Travel Tracker November report, we highlight new and ongoing trends in travel incidences, consumer sentiments and future travel intents in the pandemic world, distilled from our November Travel Tracker survey.

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What You’ll Learn From This Report

• Travel incidences, January – November 2020
• November travel highlights
• Covid-19 impacted travel, July – November 2020
• Changing consumer sentiments on the economic outlook, July – December 2020
• Changing consumer intent on future travel, July – December 2020

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